Friday, December 30, 2016

She is known by many names around the internet - Virgin Mary Holy
Octomother of Cthulhu, Octo-Mary full of grace, Tentacle Mary - patron
saint of the Detroit Red Wings, Octopussy, Hail [Mother] Hydra, as well
as numerous iterations. But they are all WRONG! It is the sad state of
the internet generation that they would rather retweet than research.
Some idiot on tumblr posted it with a made up name and no link or
mention of the artist, then it got reposted, then the same happened on
9gag, reddit, and twitter.

Know your tentacles!

She is Notre Dame du Poulpe - Our Lady of the Octopus.
Created by French artist Soasig Chamaillard

She has done a ton of variations with the Mary icon,
"I grew up in a Western Christian society. My perspective on life has been a result of my environment and background.
The playful interaction of society's many icons, physical transformations, and the resulting improbably combinations, have culminated in my vision of a woman's role and place in our society.
This inner questioning of a woman's role has led me to use one of the most sacred icons in my work, namely, the Virgin Mary.
Initially, I began with damaged statues, either donated or discovered in garage sales, which I then restore and transform.
I surely do not mean to shock those who believe but rather to move those who see."

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

October 6th marks the holiday of Mad Hatter Day. The Mad Hatter is from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (though commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland). He wears a top hat with a card in the headband labeled 10/6. In the original illustrations from the book, the card reads "In this style 10/6" and is actually a price tag that means "10 shillings and a sixpence." This is explained in The Nursery Alice by Lewis Carroll, "The Hatter used to carry about hats to sell: and even the one that he's got on his head is meant to be sold. You see it's got its price marked on it-a "10" and a "6"-that means "ten shillings and sixpence." Wasn't that a funny way of selling hats?"

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Possibly the most shared meme of Jack
and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas, and definitely one of the
best pieces of fan art of those two fateful characters. It took me
years of hunting through uncredited blog listings, degraded
copy-and-reposts, and reversed image searches, to finally find the
artist and the source image.

Artist Name: Lulu Inthesky

Real Name: Laetitia Lamblin

Main Site: luluinthesky.fr

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/lulu.inthesky.illustration

This is the original, unedited version

This is the meme version that went
viral. Obviously, the motivational succor of "Your
soulmate is the person who mends your Broken Heart, by simply giving
you, Theirs," complete with the internet generation's poor
grammar, was added. Though it is a great sentiment and I'm sure
helped with its viral nature, I somehow doubt the editor of the image
also wrote the verse.

Here are some of her early
pencil/shading works whose style I prefer. Her work has evolved
towards a cleaner/pen-and-ink style which I think becomes more
common, more mainstream, too mid-20th century cartoonish,
and not nearly as creative or as beautiful as her earlier work.
Artists change, you just can't trust 'em. ;)

With the help of their friends the rare book collector occult wars
mercenary and the masked luchador repoman bounty hunter bouncer,
Veronica and her bandmates in the Horribly Wrongs horror rock band must
take the ultimate road trip to Hell from their home in the Phoenix
wasteland and stop the Big Pharma madman who is creating *things* in a
secret lab somewhere in the lost bayous of Louisiana.

Can they make it out of Texas alive? What horrors await them? Are they ever going to release a new album?

The intro to Got a Bad Case of the Horribly Wrongs is a standard
classic horror tale of monster movies and rock 'n' roll then hits you
with a blistering chorus of biopunk body horror before crescendoing in
an insanity-inducing ending of Lovecraftian nightmares. Features guest
vocals by one of your favorite mad gods.

This is the first novel in the Oblivion Hearts setting, a world
based on the author's real encounters with Yog-Sothoth as detailed in
the unholy book Astronomicon minorem and is what inspired him to create
the First United Church of Cthulhu – the only real and legally
recognized nonprofit religious organization whose faith is based on the
Cthulhu Mythos and the visions of our mad prophet H. P. Lovecraft. Find
the church at FUCC.IT

In the dark recesses of the world's cities lie the hidden altars and secret cathedrals dedicated to the blasphemous beings from out of space and time. And they want in!

Features the work of prominent horror authors,

many already with published Cthulhu Mythos material.

“Little Gods” by James Pratt
“Sects and the Single Girl” by Steven A. Roman“The Kings in Rebel Yellow” by Khurt Khave
“The Face of God Within” by Brian H. Seitzman
“The Black Metal of Derek Zann” by Aaron Besson
“Cosmic Cavity; or, the Mouth of Man” by Carl R. Jennings
“Along the Shore of Old Ridge” by Stuart Conover
“Sleep Talking” by Jeff C. Stevenson
“Matriarch of Skid Row” by M. C. Bluhm
“Uncle Lovecraft: The Complete Oral History” by David Acord
“Strange Communion” by Allen Griffin
“Death in the Sunset” by Guy Riessen
“The Abomination of St. Jude” by David F. Gray
“Flesh-Bound Shadow Sun” by M. S. Swift
“Doorstepping” by Kelda Crich
“Saturday Night at the Esoteric Order of Dagon” by Jill Hand
“City of our Lady, Queen of the Angels,
Virgin Mother of a Thousand Young” by Kevin Wetmore
“Warm Red Sea” by Jaap Boekestein

I also edited the anthology. The Kings in Rebel Yellow is one of my favorite stories that I have written. I will definitely be continuing on with those characters. I can't wait to find out what kind of chaos and madness they get involved in.

I received the question of exactly how one would incorporate the Book of Shub-Niggurath in their game. This is the result of that question and its subsequent answers.

I’ll cover the gaming aspects first, then the real world
magickal theories second.

I started gaming in the 80’s.We loved handouts, props, any extras that
enhanced the playing and storytelling experience.Unfortunately, back then most of the extras
included were tiny black and white maps or “found pages from an ancient tome”
which were sometimes only a quarter page size cutout.So we would use old encyclopedias or even
phone books (to invoke the Plumber of Doom dial 555-FLUSHIT) in the stead of
sizeable spell books.

This is a physical prop intended to be used and abused.

Especially if you’re a Keeper who likes to use atmospheric
extras, turn down the lights, flicker bulbs, sound fx tracks, eerie music,
etcetera; this book is for you.Your
players will remember the first time you announce that they have discovered the
Book of Shub-Niggurath and hold it a few feet above the table, then let it drop
with a heavy thud that shakes the table and sends papers, pencils, and dice
flying.“Hold your drinks.”This thing weighs three and a half
pounds.Be careful where you toss
it.Unless you’re like my old gaming
crew was, then you’ll probably forcibly throw it at one or all of them during
the course of the campaign.I guess from
a legal standpoint, yes, those multiple incidents would technically constitute
assault.

Got a designated spellcaster?Make them get up and walk around the table
while reciting the appropriate passages.“In proper Sumerian, please.”We
used to have to write out and recite every fhtagn word.“Oh, no.I’m not casting nothing this game.You’re the mage now.” *proceeds to throw book at the new acolyte*If you’re LARPing, your mage will simply love lugging this heavy thing around for hours on end!

Use passages from the Lovecraft stories as clues for the
investigators.Some sending them in the
right direction, some sending them the other way.But all paths are fraught with danger.

Make the investigators find the clues in the book’s passages
themselves from other external cues.They might hate you for making them work so hard, but there will also be
a solid feeling of satisfaction of unraveling a mystery using physical props as
opposed to just making an occult skill roll.I left the pages unnumbered for this reason, but how many authentic
spellbooks are numbered anyway?Especially if pages are always being added or removed.

The different ancient languages in the book can be used to
send investigators on themed adventures (gods, cults, beings, and folk heroes
from those mythologies) or even to their originating locations around the world.The Akkadian underworld can become a real
subterranean location or reachable other-dimensional plane.

There are multiple gods from the Cthulhu Mythos pantheon
listed in the book besides Shub-Niggurath.So these are easy lead-ins to include all those various other factions
in your adventures.

Or perhaps that one crucial page with all the clues is
missing!Or partially torn with the
other half of the banishing spell on it.An infuriating cliché of fiction from the era was that the location of
the villain’s hideout, or the dead recluse millionaire’s will, or the
combination to the safe containing the needed special item were written on that
missing page.

Make it the Book of dread.Use it sparingly, then when the book comes out your investigators know
there is trouble ahead.

Are some of those pages cursed?Side quest interrupting gameplay to find a
cure for the increasingly fishy skin condition of Professor Smart Guy who
botched the spell reading.Yeah, they’re
gonna really hate you after this one.

Who else wants this book?Any of the Thousand Young will obviously want to get Mom’s book back.There could be multiple, competing factions
of Shub cults fighting each other and your team to gain possession of the
book.Other cults will have a vested
interest in getting their slimy tentacles on the magic contained within those
pages.Agents of other groups or persons
of interest who think that much power must be destroyed; or at least taken out
of your group’s incompetent hands.

Did you steal this book from the Miskatonic library?You will have to contend with some very angry
faculty as well as overzealous students and wannabe campus cultists.

Actual otherplanar beings will probably want to get hold of
the Book of Shub-Niggurath.Can they
sense the magic in the book and track the party?Always one step behind?Will they use it for their own nefarious
schemes or just devour its power as a light snack then go back to sleep for
1000 years?

Shub might have to take matters into her own hands (alien
grabby parts?) and get the book back herself.

Learn a new dead language.I could fluently read and write Runic Norse by the time I was done
studying it for gaming purposes.

As for as real world magic use, all of the ancient languages
are considered to contain actual power that is unlockable and usable to the
reader.Many cultures held the belief
that words themselves are a type of energy and that put together in the proper
order constitute a functioning spell.That’s what curse words originally were!

Then there is also the aspect of equidistant letter
sequencing, hidden words and meanings, and subliminal magicks of mental control
or spiritual domination.Catcher in the
Rye anyone?What works for one won’t
necessarily work for another.That does
not disempower the original seeker of knowledge. Books can transport you to another world, create new reality paradigms, breathe life into those eldritch landscapes. But this book is just a focus.The real power lies within you.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Alice the chrononaut falls down an unmarked dimensional rift, or rabbit hole, which transports her to the wondrous lands as imagined by author Lewis Carroll.

But this is a very real place, as any parallel reality that can be thought of can be created. Wonderland is being torn apart by warring kingdoms, cruel monarchs, cosmic corporations, odd gods, and the forces of Cthulhu!

Characters from both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There are joined by a cast of Disney-like talking animals as well as fantastical creatures such as mermaids, faeries, trolls, and minotaurs. And then the fighting and fornicating ensues!

The best written trash you will ever hear. Exactly what it sounds like and much worse than you think! All the sex and violence that was missing from the original Alice in Wonderland is now here! You will be ashamed for loving it! It's tentacular!